in the news not related to katrina or SCOTUS —

Federal Judge Rules Pledge Unconstitutional — U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton says that the pledge’s reference to one nation “under God” violates school children’s right to be “free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.”

i disagree with this decision, but not for the reason you would think. my faith in God is important to me, and i don’t think encouraging kids to believe in God is wrong. that’s not what the pledge does. i believe the pledge has absolutely no effect on kids. perhaps you could burn the words into a kid’s head but at that point it’s just words.

saying the pledge sounds good, but what the kids are taught totally undermines its message. the values that the pledge promotes are short-circuited by schools that teach them how bad america is, how damaging religion is, and why we should be ashamed of being the world’s greatest country. that, my friends, is the danger to our children, not the pledge of allegiance.

the pledge of allegiance is irrelevant and meaningless under these conditions. for these reasons, i see no reason to regulate its use at all.

Technorati : lawrence karlton, pledge of allegiance

this amusing list courtesy of the usenet comedians at alt.sports.baseball.atlanta-braves.coffeeshop (abridged version)

the world’s thinnest books:

FRENCH WAR HEROES
by Jacques Chirac

HOW I SERVED MY COUNTRY
by Jane Fonda

MY SUPER BOWL HIGHLIGHTS
by Dan Marino

THINGS I CANNOT AFFORD
by Bill Gates

THINGS I WOULD NOT DO FOR MONEY
by Dennis Rodman

MY WILD YEARS
by Al Gore

A COLLECTION of MOTIVATIONAL SPEECHES
by Dr . J . Kevorkian

SPOTTED OWL RECIPES
by the EPA

THE AMISH PHONE DIRECTORY

MY PLAN TO FIND THE REAL KILLERS
by O . J . Simpson

“george bush hates midgets.” –chris rock, always the sensitive, caring type…

first of all, i would like to thank chris rock for adding another oppressed minority group to our constantly expanding list of those groups. who knows how many midgets are affected by this unfeeling government? and if they had a lobbyist, what special rights would he lobby for?

here are some other groups that should apply for victim status:

• the cavemen in the geico commercial — who will speak for unshaven, hairy men with bad table manners? oh yeah…beer commercials.
• smokers — yeah, sure, it’s a disgusting and fatal habit. but this is america…and no one should be prevented from having legal, disgusting, and fatal habits. that is, as long as i don’t have to breathe that air.
• taxpayers — we give too much of our money to a government that wastes it. if a business spent money the way the government does, the free market would punish it severely.
• drug users — they just don’t get enough credit or respect in this culture. it takes a lot of effort to be that stupid. we should reward that stupidity by legalizing drugs and creating more drug users. that’s a brilliant idea. more people on crystal meth and marijuana…that’s the key to improving productivity and success in this country.

i’m sure there are other groups i’ve forgotten. feel free to add some. what we need to remember is that our success or failure depends on us, not on washington bureaucrats or government agencies. when we grasp this, we can start taking responsibility for our own lives.

Technorati : chris rock, midgets

i would like to congratulate one of my favorite tennis players ever, andre agassi, on making the US Open semifinals. he and james blake played an outstanding match, and i still can’t figure out how andre keeps winning these matches. no matter how it turns out from here, this has been a great run for agassi. should he choose to retire after this tournament, it would be a great way to leave the game. i love his game. always have. here’s hoping that he has two more successful games.

read all about the great match here .

Technorati : US Open, andre agassi, james blake, tennis

political opportunists of all stripes should be ashamed of themselves. i don’t know if i would have put it exactly this way, but i totally echo the sentiment.

Liberals Surrounded by Corpses Whisper “I See Political Opportunity”

Technorati : IMAO

freedom, even in america, doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want. there has to be some rules. the speed limit. laws about not killing people and/or taking their stuff. laws keeping the government from taking your property without just cause (and no, building a new condo or strip mall doesn’t count as a just cause). laws that make it wrong for you to be under the influence of any intoxicant when driving. these are sensible rules. there’s nothing intrusive about keeping people from following their innate self-destructive behavior.

smoking cigarettes and cigars is harmful and totally legal. crystal meth, marijuana, crank, etc, are also dangerous and damaging, but not legal. addiction to tobacco affects you differently than crystal meth. as far as i’m aware, crystal meth and the other illegal drugs affect you mentally, which ends up being more dangerous than the slow death caused by tobacco use.

peter jennings was admired for the way he handled his cancer. the death of peter jennings deeply affected a few media types, including msnbc’s keith olbermann, to plead with viewers to quit smoking. it’s a worthy goal, and those who smoke should stop as soon as possible.

there was another death recently –that of hunter s. thompson. i never knew the man, but i’ve read the glowing reviews of his life and career. it’s tragic that a man who was so talented and creative would kill himself. the gun directly killed him. his lifestyle shortened his life considerably. i find it amazing that anyone can glorify this kind of lifestyle, when we see how that life turns out in the end. there are many calling for us to quit smoking. i’m still waiting for the anti-drug speech from thompson’s admirers and colleagues.

is it possible that we don’t take drug use as seriously as smoking in this culture? i think so. i also think that this view is a mistake. drug users are parodied in comedy sketches and made fun of for the stupid things they do because of the drugs. maybe we would rather laugh at them than seriously consider what we can do to keep them from destroying themselves. it’s in everyone’s best interest to help drug users break the cycle.

in my view, there is no good reason to take drugs. none. there is also no good reason to remove restrictions from people who want to destroy themselves. so, libertarians, defend yourselves on this one. good luck with that defense.

Technorati : crystal meth, hunter s thompson, libertarians, peter jennings, smoking

here are some of my favorite stories of the last few days. hard news has been officially banned from this blog post. read at your own risk.

China gives ‘web addicts’ shock treatment
the first internet addiction hospital –wave of the future?

Stone the cows? Russia uses pot as animal feed
you just can’t make this stuff up.

DB offers free beer to celebrate birthday
which doesn’t sound too bad until you find out what kinds of beer that includes

Man robbed on sidewalk – of $2 and McDonald’s breakfast
truly pathetic soul. but what we really want to know is –what was the guy having for breakfast?

World’s Worst Driver?
collecting 20 tickets after being freed from jail…words can’t describe the stupidity involved here.

What else would you do with 15 million ice cream sticks?
having too much free time is dangerous. here’s exhibit a.

Police seek diaper-clad man who pesters women
only in london, kids. only in london.

read and enjoy.